The invention relates to a cathode having a supporting body substantially comprising nickel and being coated with a layer of electron-emissive material comprising alkaline earth metal oxides and comprising at least barium and at most 5% by weight of yttrium oxide, scandium oxide, or an oxide of a rare earth metal.
Such cathodes are described, for example, in EP-A-0,210,805. The emission of such cathodes is based on the release of barium from barium oxide. In addition to the barium oxide the electron-emissive material usually comprises strontium oxide and sometimes calcium oxide. Improved electron emission properties are obtained by the addition of yttrium oxide or scandium oxide.
The actual emission is mainly ensured by small areas (so-called "sites") having the lowest effective electron work function, which sites are spread over the electron-emissive material. In practice sites having a slightly higher work function will hardly contribute to the electron current generated by the cathode.
For a high effective electron emission it is therefore favourable to choose the number of sites having a minimum possible work function as optimally as possible in the total distribution of sites.